Background
Bryan Greenhagen of Mystic Brewery was studying agriculture and how plants make flavors and fragrances. This led to a PhD in plant biochemistry at the University of Kentucky and post-doctoral work at MIT. Bryan went on to work in industrial fermentation at Microbia where he met his wife Emily, also a fermentation scientist. Greenhagen began thinking how great it would be to apply his talents to brewing. Consequently, in 2009 he decided to start the journey of creating Mystic Brewery.
In 2011, Greenhagen founded Mystic Brewery in Chelsea, with beer brewed off-site at Pioneer Brewing in Sturbridge and the wort fermented back in the Chelsea space. His background led him to locating and harvesting indigenous yeasts that are cultivated from local fruit, purified, and selected for brewing. A barrel-aging project also got underway. In 2013 a tasting room was opened at Mystic and brewing equipment was purchased from Vermont’s Hill Farmstead Brewery. As a result Mystic was able to begin brewing their beer in-house. In addition he purchased a system of customized, squat, square, 40-barrel stainless steel fermentors.
Greenhagen announced in 2018 a second larger facility would be opened in Malden, a few blocks from Idle Hands.
Experience
After a chilly day on snowy Revere Beach, it was time for a cold beer. We took a Lyft to Mystic Brewery in Chelsea. It was President’s Day and we arrived early. We pretty much had the place to ourselves. As the day wore on more groups showed up. It is a family and dog friendly brewery. This very large warehouse like space had plenty of parking on site. There was a small bar, several community tables and a couple barrel tables.
A nice selection of drafts were listed on the board behind the bar. The list contained several Saisons and hazy IPAs. Our mood was for the hazy therefore we tried all four. Voltage is their flagship IPA but we found the Double Voltage smoother. Mosaic Crush was exceptional and the Clementine Frappe Lactose IPA was addicting. There were lots of board games to play and great tunes played over the sound system. We shared hummus and pita chips that were sold at the bar.
It is hard not to notice the stack of beautiful cans on the bar. The can art labels that cover the to-go Mystic beers are amazing. We also got to peek in the cavernous brewing area. Mike, one of the brewers, spoke with pride about their operation. Add Mystic Brewing to our list of favorite Boston area breweries!
No nearby lodging noted. Beers are available in cans to go. Some snacks are available on site. Down The Road Beer Company is about one mile away although we have not been there. Night Shift Brewing & Bone Up Brewing are 1.5 miles away from Mystic in Everett and we highly recommend. See our review of Night Shift Brewing.
https://www.mystic-brewery.com
Mystic Brewing Barrels
